History of choosing a safety razor

A short story about how I tried to choose a safe razor. Every wet shaving user, but maybe this article will be useful to someone.

I started using safety razors in the seventh grade of school. For some reason, I was embarrassed by the moustache on my face. In the USSR, you could easily buy a razor and blades from the Schick company. At that time, the quality of the Neva and Rapira blades only implied their technical use, but not for shaving.

What prompted the switch from cartridge and disposable razors to safety razors?

Many people point out in their blogs that cassettes have become expensive, and shaving with T-shaped razors is cheaper, but below I will prove that this is not so. I think that many are simply tempted by the aura of some kind of elitism of safe and dangerous razors.

Personally, I switched to safety razors for stability. It is no secret that at the moment in Russia there is no stability in the supply of razor cartridges. In addition, the cartridges are supplied all mixed up, both original and not so original. Also, the quality fluctuates greatly even among original razors and cartridges, so using safety razors reduces the time spent searching for normal cartridges, and there is no disappointment after purchasing low-quality cartridges. And, in general, nothing will burn inside the razor, you do not need electricity, and you do not need to look for a shaving block for replacement, as in electric razors. At a certain stage, all this hemorrhoids cross the line of patience and everyone begins to look for their own way out.

However, everything turned out to be not so simple.

Whether it was the right move or not, even knowing that few people in the USSR used domestic razors, I still took the Russian Rapira razor, which came with three packs of Rapira Platinum Lux blades.

The razor is a copy of the Gillette razor. There is nothing good to say about it, as well as bad. The head is a stamping with a closed comb with above-average aggression, and the blade has a rattle. In some cases, the razor just jumps on the cheek, leaving damage. The combination of the Rapira razor with the Rapira platinum lux blades for a beginner is a wild trash, the whole face will be in cuts.

More or less normal shaving can be achieved using Astra blades. I liked the blades for their affordable price and predictable soft shave. Can be used on both low-aggression and aggressive razors.

Naturally, I didn’t like such an unpredictable shaving quality, and the Rapier razor glides unpleasantly over the body with its sharp edges, so I decided to buy another razor.

The main task in the search was to find a quality stainless steel razor, but did not want to pay more than 200 euros for a razor. Naturally, the search led to the Chinese.

At the same time, I haven’t decided what kind of head I need, with a closed comb or an open one.

There were discounts on the Aliexpress platform and you could buy a stainless steel razor for 20 euros.

The razor weighs more than 100 grams and, naturally, the flimsy box could not withstand being sent by Russian Post.

The blade is attached to the head in the opposite way: the pins are on the bottom plate, and the recesses are in the cover. This arrangement is inconvenient for installing the blade.

The finish on the bottom plate is simply perfect.

The bottom plate is marked Liveben. There is an indication of what exactly the bottom plate is made of, namely stainless steel, and a serial number.

To prevent wear at the junction of the handle and the bottom plate, plastic spacers are sold. I thought that there was nothing wrong with the lack of a spacer, but after just a few uses, wear at the junction was clearly visible. Now I would definitely not use a razor without a spacer, especially to make one myself, in my conditions it is a matter of minutes.

The handle deserves special attention. Having some experience, I understand that the handle is most likely made of brass and nickel-plated, as it has more weight compared to a similar handle made of stainless steel.

It is important to understand that the heavier the handle, the more ideal the shave will be, since when wet shaving with T-shaped razors, you cannot put pressure on the razor - it should shave under its own weight, unlike cartridge razors, which are usually plastic and have a small weight.

The galvanic coating on the handle is simply perfect, soap and dirt do not stick to it; it is easy to wipe off and it is perfectly clean again.

The handle is massive, beautiful and ergonomic - it has recesses exactly where the fingers fit.

The steel bushing pressed into the handle supports the assumption that the handle is made of brass, as brass threads have a short service life.

The joy of the purchase did not last long - it quickly became clear that the razor was defective.

The top part did not fit the bottom plate. The bumps and depressions did not match in distances. To the credit of the Aliexpress market, they quickly returned the money for the defective razor.

In addition, it turned out that the lid was made of cast powder of dubious quality.

Some Chinese sellers do not hide the fact that the heads are made using powder metallurgy with further processing on CNC machines.

This process has nothing in common with the process of manufacturing from a solid block of metal, so the price is significantly lower, since there is not such a quantity of shavings and a large amount of energy, metal and time is not spent on processing the product.

Most people won't notice the difference in the finished product due to the manufacturing method, but I not only see it, I can feel it.

Local craftsmen managed to fix the defect as best they could. The head began to assemble, but the blade protrusion was not the same: on one side the blade protrusion was greater than on the other.

Unfortunately, all the efforts to restore it were in vain - the head is so soft that it is useless for my stubble. It is still okay to shave my head, but it is useless to shave the stubble on my cheekbones.

Since I had a handle without a shaving head, I decided to order Muhle shaving heads. Muhle has two of the most hyped ones: R86 with a closed comb and R41 with an open comb. Having read horror stories about the aggressiveness of the R41 shaving head, I decided to order both on the OZON market to finally choose what type of head I needed. When the delivery took more than a few days, I decided to check who the seller was, and to my horror, I discovered that the seller was from China. There are stories in the Russian segment of the Internet that the Chinese can allegedly send clones of Muhle shaving heads that are indistinguishable from the original, so I decided to wait and see what they would send. After a tedious month of waiting, all my worst assumptions in the spirit of Chinese products of the 90s were confirmed - two cheap heads made of silumin arrived, and they are absolutely identical with different selling prices.

The impudent Chinese offered compensation in the amount of one cent for this garbage. Naturally, I refused. Another 2 days passed, he offered compensation in the amount of $10, I refused again. The deadline for a response to resolve the dispute has already passed. The Chinese has already fled the site, and there is still no decision.

I found this bad guy on Aliexpress - he also posts exactly the same ad about selling original Muhle razor heads. Unfortunately, there is no way to write anything in the reviews. This is A Million Little Things from China, and his rating on the site is very high, but all the reviews are anonymous, which indicates that the reviews are artificially inflated.

It is clear that this Chinese knock-off does not even remotely resemble products from Muhle.

This story just threw me off track. It is also depressing that the Ozon platform leaves the buyer alone with the fraudster and is in no hurry to resolve the situation in the case of simply brazen fraud.

At the time of writing, I received a notification that I needed to bring the heads back to the Application Point.

Naturally, in my case, the situation went into zugzwang - I ordered a razor on the same Ozon and also for a small amount for a version supposedly made of stainless steel.

It is naive to assume that a good stainless steel razor in Russia can cost $32, but people often hope for a miracle.

Judging by the fact that the boxes are different from one seller to another, we can conclude that the boxes in Russia are made by the sellers themselves. Or different boxes are supplied to different sellers.

Despite the loud name, the razors are made in India. Remembering that the industry mainly came to India with the English, I decided to take a risk, hoping that the quality would not differ much from the English.

The razor model is called Parker 68S.

There is an advertisement on the box which states:

Parker has designed and created the world's finest safety razors. Every Parker safety razor is manufactured to exact specifications. Our rich heritage and passion for creating exemplary products is reflected in our commitment to customer satisfaction with every product that bears our name. Parker Safety Razors - Since 1973.

which is not true.

Let me start with the fact that it is not clearly indicated anywhere what material the razor is made of.

There are no markings at all, either on the head or anywhere else.

It is clear to see that the base plate is cast rather than machined.

The coating has a tactile sensation like Chinese plastic products covered with metal. Such unpleasant friction. In addition, soap and dirt stick to the head, so it is impossible to clean no matter how much you wipe with a napkin.

The Parker handle has a knurled surface with grippy ribbing. The razor is held securely even in wet hands.

Unfortunately, my copy has a manufacturing defect on the lid, so the manufacturer's claim of "the best razor in the world" is not true.

It is clear that someone tried to fix the manufacturing defect.

I will give some measurements of the weight of YAQI Liveben and Parker 68S products.

It can be seen that the 68S skid plate is higher than the Liveben's, which suggests that the 68S skid plate is made of cast brass.

The lid of the Chinese razor has traces of mechanical processing, which is good.

We can also see from the weight that the top plate of the Parker is also made of brass.

But the Parker handle is made of stainless steel.

However, the high-quality coating of YAQI makes the pen more tactilely pleasant.

The assembled Parker 68S weighs 113.2 grams.

The weight of the safety razor is 126.3 grams.

Despite the fact that the dimensions are comparable to each other, the YAQI razor feels better in the hand than the Parker 68S razor.

The biggest drawback of both razors for me is that they are soft.

If you use Japanese Feather blades instead of Astra blades in the Parker razor, some parts of the face start to shave better, but the stubble on the cheekbones still shaves poorly. And don't be fooled by the comb on the head, like on the R41, in Parker it is not aggressive.

Add to the price of entry into wet shaving experiments with soap/cream/shaving foam.

Also, you won't be able to properly lather up your shaving soap/cream with a low-quality brush.

It is also necessary to experiment to select the blade specifically for your razor head.

And these are only the products that are necessary for shaving itself, not to mention accessories such as pre-shave and after-shave lotions and so on.

One of the main advantages of blade razors over electric razors and cartridge razors is hygiene. After each use, the blade is changed and the razor is washed and wiped dry. In addition, a safety razor is stored outside the bathroom, so it is safer in terms of hygiene.

What is this article about? To the fact that you shouldn't think that you will buy the cheapest set and everything will be fine. Everything will be expensive. In return, you will get hygiene, adrenaline and a good/bad mood (over time, only excellent).